


Waxing Routines

by noconceptoflife



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-09
Updated: 2017-03-09
Packaged: 2018-10-01 11:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10188653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noconceptoflife/pseuds/noconceptoflife
Summary: Frank DuFresne loves his boyfriend more than just about anything. His boyfriend loves him just as much. So why hasn't Frank ever been curious about what it is that his boyfriend does on those saturday mornings when he sleeps in? It's just a beauty routine, but it's a beauty routine that his boyfriend keeps up. And after all, what kind of boyfriend would he be if he didn't have an interest in his better half's interests?





	

Sundays are days meant for sleeping in. No one should wake up before noon on a Sunday, it’s like an unspoken rule. Yet for some reason Frank wakes up on a cold November Sunday at nine AM to an empty bed. The smell of hot sugar and light humming coming from the kitchen. He sighs out loud, knowing that it’s one of those days. Usually Frank just rolls over and goes back to sleep and leaves Franklin alone for the day. It always feels strange to intrude upon the man’s routine.

That routine is a biweekly event. He’ll use up half a jar of coconut oil to prepare his hair for bleaching two nights before. The actual bleaching is done on Saturday. Then Franklin spends Sunday doing whatever it is that he does. Frank usually sleeps through most of it, and just have Franklin finish up around noon. Then he comes to bed to cuddle smelling like fruity lotion and chemicals. It’s not a routine that Frank has ever felt he had a part in.

This Sunday he’s awake when Franklin is for once. Frank takes a few minutes to try and drift off into sleep again. Frank also fails at this, so he sighs and presses his face into Franklin’s pillow. It smells overwhelmingly like Franklin’s gentle hair product and his strawberry chap-stick. When that doesn’t lull him back to sleep, he wonders why he doesn’t get up.

It took three years of dating for them to move in together. Frank had wanted somewhere quiet and out of the way. Franklin wanted something that was close to his friends and not too far from his favorite places. They had settled on the little house that was between two large parks and a stretch of woods. There were a few changes, of course. Franklin wanted a large bathtub in the master bath, Frank wanted more windows. They both needed the large garden.

They have been living together for four months, and he has no clue of Franklin’s routine. What kind of boyfriend would be be if he didn’t know? He should find out what Franklin does on these days.

It feels like sin to roll out of bed at nine in the morning on a weekend, but he does. He gets out of bed and he leaves his glasses on the bedside table in the room he shares with Franklin. He’s shirtless, and he’s just wearing a pair of soft pants that double as lazy wear. Franklin usually sleeps in something silky and ridiculous that gets tangled up. The sight of that currently on the floor makes Frank assume he’s changed. Or naked. Either option is possible.

Franklin is in the kitchen, lights dim and leaning against a counter, watching a pot of bubbling melted sugar on the stove. Not naked, just in a pair of sweatpants. Frank makes himself known with a cleared throat.

“Oh, hey baby.” Franklin greets with an easy smile and an open arm. It’s not odd anymore to see him like this. Faint stubble on his face, eyebrows not yet plucked, it’s familiar. 

Frank easily slots himself into his boyfriend’s side. Franklin is a few inches taller than him and more built, it’s inviting to rest his head on Franklin’s shoulder. “Hey.” He greets in return, and leaves a few kisses over Franklin’s jaw from where he can reach.

“Did I wake you up?” Franklin asks. “Usually you sleep right through this.”

“Yeah, but it’s fine. I was just wondering about stuff.” Frank can see some of the appeal to waking up early. As long as it’s with someone he loves, then he can’t think of a single bad thing about it. Having to drag his ass to college for morning classes was torture in college. Torture and coffee to be more specific. Yet when he’s with Franklin it’s calm. It’s like they’re in their own little bubble where nothing touches them.

“What kind of stuff are you wondering about?” Franklin asks, bumping his head to the side to bonk against Frank’s. With Franklin, his hair falls down in his eyes and over his ears and could be described as shaggy at worst. It’s a cute natural look that no one has ever seen other than Frank. Doc’s hair is long, reaching his shoulder blades and usually in a tight bun or ponytail.

“Like what it is you do all day.” Frank says. “Like this stuff, what’s the sugar for?”

“Waxing.” Franklin says.

“I thought you didn’t shave in winter?” Frank asks. After a moment he frowns. Now that he’s thinking back maybe he just remembers because it was odd at first after being used to smooth skin. They had first dated through spring and summer and then autumn. Frank had found that Franklin usually stopped shaving after Halloween. Once the season was bad for his ‘Skies Out Thighs Out’ mentality he didn’t feel the need.

“I don’t shave in winter.” Franklin affirms. “I wax instead. I just let the hair grow out until it’s long enough to wax.”

“All over?” Franklin asks.

“What did you think that I spent all these mornings doing?” Franklin asks. “Waxing everything usually only takes an hour or two, but I do that first so it’s easier to do everything later.”

“What is it that you do all day?” Frank finally asks.

Franklin uncurls from Frank’s side, and then goes to examine the sugar. He adds what looks like honey and some other things that Frank isn’t sure about. “Lots of things, you want to join me?”

“Uh.” Frank doesn’t wax or shave, he just trims his thick body hair and his beard. The idea of ripping it out is not appealing. “Isn’t it… won’t it hurt? I don’t think-”

Franklin waves his hand, and takes the pot off the stove once it’s hot enough to pour the way he wants. “No, I won’t make you wax with me. I mean do you just want to hang out while I do my thing? You can join me in the bath afterwards.”

That sounds a lot more inviting than yanking all his hair off. “Yeah, sure. I don’t think I’ll mind hanging out with you today.”

Franklin pours his sugar mixture into a short and wide glass jar. After that Frank is pulled into a full kiss, but then his boyfriend wrinkles his nose. “Breakfast and brushing teeth first, kissing later.“

That’s done easily enough. Franklin likes poached eggs and toast most mornings, while Frank makes a large smoothie. Neither of them drink coffee. Frank likes tea, and Franklin likes his white teeth.

Frank goes to brush his teeth, and Franklin’s already done and he has his near-full jar set up. There are other unlabeled jars that Franklin has out, cluttering up the counter. Jars of strong-smelling stuff and gentle-smelling stuff. About half of it is homemade, or mixtures that Franklin has made of other things. Maybe a quarter of it is official product still in the bottle. The jars are easier to store, and they usually just take up space under the sink.

"Why don’t you use the master bath?” Frank asks him at seeing the setup.

“I don’t want to wake you up since you like to sleep in.” Franklin says. Frank smiles, and decides that’s fair enough.

Franklin’s ipod is set up too. It’s some old ancient thing that he uses just for music hooked up to some speakers. They all play relaxing things that he can hum along to.

Frank gets done with his teeth, and he just goes to sit on the edge of the toilet. Franklin spreads out in the bathtub. He’s naked now, but that hardly means anything between them. Franklin wasn’t one for modesty, not even when they first started dating. It was a little awkward, since Frank had the idea that nudity meant sex or things he wasn’t wanting at the time. Franklin was so casual about it that he stopped caring once they understood each other better.

“Something on your mind?” Franklin asks, and he applies some baby powder to his skin. Frank isn’t sure why needs baby powder but there must be a reason.

“Just thinking about when we started dating.”’ Frank says. “And how I was so uncomfortable with you at first.”

Franklin applies some of the wax with a plastic butter knife and lays a strip of cloth on it. He uses cheap tee shirts that he buys a ton of from Walmart and slices them up. No one would buy them anyways. “I was worried that I was coming on too strong at first. Kaikaina and Vern were backing me up, probably not the best idea for you. But hey, I figure if you weren’t gonna like me then it would be a loss, but whatever. I was only crushing on you for like, three months.”

Frank smiles, and then winces when Franklin yanks the cloth off. It ends up leaving a swathe of skin free of his dark body hair. “That looks painful.”

“It’s not that bad.” Franklin says, already preparing the next strip into his skin. Powder, wax, repeat. “It stings a little, but I’m used to it.”

Frank nods, and leans on his elbows to watch his boyfriend a little closer. “Did Dex and Dick ever get after you for manscaping like this when you lived together?”

Franklin snorts. “Babe, don’t call it that. It’s self care and personal grooming. I put a lot of effort into how I look, it’s only ‘manly’ in the idea that I’m a man and I do it.“ Donut scoffs. "Really, ‘Manscaping’, you sound like Sarge.” Two more strips of hair has come off in the time it takes Franklin to say all that. “To answer your question, yes. But they fell victim to it too. I know that Grif still uses the product I gave him to make his skin less oily, and Simmons has been dying his hair as long as he’s been able to.”

That catches Frank’s attention. “Wait, he dyes his hair?”

“It’s more like he enhances it. He’s got strawberry blond hair, but he darkens it. Dyes his eyebrows too.” Rip, rip, rip. One entire leg is stripped free of hair now, and he switches to the other side. Only in fifteen minutes too “But don’t tell anyone.”

Franklin takes a moment to stop and talk. He continues telling a story about Simmons’ adventures with hair dye while Frank listens.

They’re an odd group of friends. He had met Lavernius’ friend group first, and then Franklin’s. They had a lot of odd quirks and running jokes that went over his head. He still didn’t understand why they took the rule of dibs so seriously.

Something else has been bugging him for the whole time he’s known them, he might as well ask now. “It’s funny.” Frank begins. “How you all call each other by your last names. I know that Sarge started it, but why keep it up? You’ve known each other, what, seven years?”

“I’ve known them for seven years. All of college, most of high school. So that’s seven years. Simmons and Grif knew each other in middle school, so they’ve been friends for thirteen years total. Carolina and Church are brother and sister, so they’ve known each other for twenty five years.” Franklin rattles off. “But the whole last name thing was because Simmons liked to be called that before he renamed himself. With Church’s friend group it was because his dad was military and called his friends by their last name and it stuck.” It’s a story Frank has heard and had to explain to many people over the years.

“I know that.” Frank scoffs. He’s known that for years. “But like, have any of them ever called you by your first name?” Frank watches as Donut strips his other leg of hair, and then start on his chest and abdomen. It takes little time on this attempt.

“Other than to make fun of my full name, not that I can remember. What do you think, Doc?” Franklin winks.

Frank grimaces at the old nickname that Franklin’s friends still use. “I’m a nurse, I don’t see why they gave me that nickname.”

Franklin finishes one arm, and easily switches over to the other one. How odd it is to be ambidextrous, but helpful for these situations. It was always incredibly helpful during baseball, but that was a college pass time that they don’t indulge in much anymore. “DuFresne breaks the two syllable rule.”

Frank waits for Franklin to laugh. It never comes. “There is no way that’s the real reason.”

Franklin doesn’t flinch. “Why do you think we call Kaikaina sister instead of her name?” Franklin grins. “Well, Tucker calls her Kaikaina, but that’s cuz they’re a thing. She calls him Vern. I wanted to call him ‘Lava’ but he vetoed that. Don’t see why, Lava is a cool nickname.”

“Palomo has three syllables.” Frank points out. "And my name isn't more than two!"

“Palomo doesn’t count because he’s technically not part of our group.” Franklin says as he finishes up with his arms. "We thought it was pronounced different, with your weird french name."

He’s all smooth tan skin now. “Since you’re here, can you do my back for me?” Franklin changes the subject.

It’s nothing at all to go and sit on the edge of their tub with his naked boyfriend sitting facing away from him. It’s the kind of casual intimacy and understanding that comes from lots of time and lots of love. “How do I apply it?”

“First put down some baby powder so it’ll just stick to the hair and not the skin.” He instructs. “Then you apply it against the hair.”

Frank bends down, taking the sugary goo with the plastic knife to layer it over his back in a long stripe. He ends up folding the stretch of cloth, but he just pats it down on top of the honey-sugar mix. “How long do I let it sit before pulling it?”

“Just yank it off right now.”

“Right now?” Frank isn’t so sure.

“Yes, right now.”

Frank yanks, and the thing comes off in a long strip. Okay, so it’s not that hard. Frank finishes up the rest of his back, and that declares Franklin’s waxing done with only half the jar being gone. “I expected this to take longer.” Frank says, and he glances to the clock. It’s only taken forty five minutes.

“Nah.” Franklin says. “I already bleached my hair yesterday, so I’ll be applying the pink today. My dye has to sit for an hour, so I usually take a bath with some of my stuff during that.”

“We could move to the main bathroom. It’s got a bigger tub.” Frank suggests. I could join you. He doesn’t suggest out loud.

Franklin catches it, considering he gives Frank a sly smile in return and a quick peck on the cheek. “That sounds great, but don’t start the water up. I’ve got this bubble bar that I’ve been wanting to try and I have to make it work while the water runs.”

A long time ago, Frank had quietly panicked at the first time he had wanted to share a bathtub with his boyfriend. He shouldn’t have had to. Even with Franklin’s fondness for discomfort-inducing double entente he was always respectful. Frank’s comfort and needs were important to Franklin. Those needs excluded sex most of the time, and it was refreshing to be able to relax naked in Franklin’s arms in their larger master bathroom. It had taken a few misunderstandings, but that was just how relationships worked.

When Franklin comes to join Frank in their master bathroom he has an arm full of products. Doc sits himself back on the toilet to watch his boyfriend work. He has a small basket full of those bath bombs he likes so much, and he picks out two to set on the edge. One looks like a candy, dark pink with white swirls in it. The other one looks like a lumpy pile of pink frosting sculpted into a sphere that could fit in his hand.

“Is that one cut in half?” Frank asks, pointing at the candy looking one.

“Yup!” Franklin says. His hair is platinum colored at the roots from where he had it bleached recently. Frank can see because he’s working his hair into parts so it can be dyed properly. Franklin has never been subtle, so instead of a light pastel color he goes for a hard bubblegum pink color. It’s still light, but bright enough that it catches the eye. “I don’t use the full thing, since I’m gonna use a bath melt and a bubble bar.”

Frank frowns at the two different lumps of soap. “So neither of these are bath bombs?”

“Ha, no. The melt will just be for moisturizing, and the bar is for bubbles and smell and glitter. Lush glitter is made from seaweed so it doesn’t hurt or pollute anything. I saw someone’s cat had once gotten into their lush glitter.”

How nice that Franklin thinks ahead to these things. “You want help with your hair?” He asks.

“Sure, you know how to do it.” Franklin says. Frank gets up to let the taller man take his place on the toilet as he works on applying the pink dye to Franklin’s roots. As he does this, Franklin turns on the tap to a hot setting. He sets the lumpy pink one in, and then starts running the candy looking pink one under the hot water. The glitter and powder dissolve off steadily, and then in chunks. The bath melt takes some time to break up, but the bar breaks up into a gooey powdery mess soon enough. Frank expects it to stain Franklin’s hands pink as he runs them through the faucet. It does not. Once the bar is dissolved Franklin cranks up the heat and the force of the water to let it froth up a bunch of bubbles.

“To think that everyone laughed at us getting the jet tub.” Franklin says. “I know for a fact that Tucker has one nearly as big as this. Like I can have anything other than the best for my bathroom.”

“It cost us a pretty penny.” Frank says in return. “Tilt your head back, I missed some of your roots near your bangs.”

Franklin does as he’s told, and Frank applies the last of the dye that Franklin needs. The bath is full of bubbles and smells like berries and frosting, pleasant and sweet.

It takes another minute, then they’re both in the sweet smelling water. Franklin can’t be seen across the tub for all the bubbles that block their view which is disappointing. But it’s okay, since Frank can feel Franklin’s legs against his. Franklin’s legs are smooth and muscular and nudging against his playfully. Frank can’t see what his boyfriend is planning, but he can tell he’s moving around a lot.

“Hey, Frankie, look at me.” Franklin says. Frank leans up to peer over the pile of bubbles, and Franklin has his body and face carefully coated in a thin and thick layer of bubbles. “Look, I’m you!”

Frank cracks a grin at the teasing about his beard and body hair. “I love you.” Frank says. Maybe he should join Franklin in on this routine some more.

“I love you too.” Franklin says, and as if reading his mind continues. “We should do this more often. I like doing things like this with you.“

Frank parts the bubbles and leans across the tub to give his boyfriend a kiss. "Sounds like a plan.”


End file.
